Bombs assembled in hotel
Suicide attackers took the parts into a guest room in Jakarta. At least eight people died.
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Three days ago, they checked into Room 1808 at the swank J.W. Marriott Hotel - smuggling explosives past metal detectors and security guards. Behind the closed door, investigators say, the suicide attackers then assembled the bombs set off yesterday at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton next door.
The blasts killed at least eight people and wounded more than 50 - and broke a four-year lull in extremist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Although significantly weakened by a crackdown in recent years, Islamic extremists proved they still had the means to mount deadly assaults, even in heavily protected areas of Indonesia's capital.
The bombings also exposed the challenge of securing luxury hotels frequented by Westerners, a popular target for extremists.
A group of more than a dozen executives with American and other Western companies was holding a regular Friday morning meeting near the Marriott restaurant where the explosives were detonated, and many of them were among the victims, hospital lists showed.
At least eight Americans were among those injured in the two blasts.
Indonesia was last hit by extremists in October 2005, when three suicide bombers with explosives-laden backpacks killed 20 people at restaurants on the resort island of Bali. The Jakarta Marriott was targeted six years ago in a car bombing that left 12 people dead. Both attacks were blamed on the Southeast Asian group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Yesterday's attackers evaded hotel security and smuggled explosives into the Marriott by posing as guests and assembling the bombs in Room 1808, where an undetonated device was later found by police.
"They had been using the room as their 'command post' since July 15, and today they were supposed to check out," the nation's police chief, Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, said. At the Marriott, such a "deluxe" room, with marble-decorated bathrooms and plush furnishings, goes for about $200 a night.
Security-video footage captured the moment of the explosion. The brief, grainy images show a man in a cap pulling a bag on wheels across the Marriott lobby toward the restaurant, followed by a flash and a blast of white smoke.
"There was a big explosion followed by a shock wave," said Ahmad Rochadi, a security guard at the Marriott who was checking cars in the basement. "I rushed upstairs and saw smoke billowing from the lobby."
An Australian think tank, the Strategic Policy Institute, had warned that Jemaah Islamiyah might launch new attacks just a day before yesterday's deadly strike.
International luxury hotels have become a common target for extremists in recent years, with at least eight bombings at major chains since 2003.
In Indonesia, security is tight at five-star hotels, where guests must typically walk through metal detectors and vehicles are inspected. But many visitors say searches are often cursory.
Defense analyst Paul Beaver, former top editor at Jane's Defense Weekly, said putting in place the kind of stringent security measures needed to help prevent attacks was difficult for hotels - and risked making properties that are supposed to be welcoming to weary travelers feel like prisons.
"You don't want to embarrass your guests with security measures," he said, noting that plotters in dozens of countries can also alter tactics based on experience gained from prior attacks. "This is the risk we take. There are a number of attacks like these waiting to happen."